Silo construction

ABSTRACT

A silo or like structure having a polygonal external shape comprises a central storage compartment and a plurality of annular storage compartments surrounding the central storage compartment. The silo is made of a plurality of groups of separate structural units each of box-like configuration and having opposed open ends, the units being joined together to form a plurality of annular arrays about the longitudinal axis of the silo with the open ends of each unit contiguous to the adjacent ones.

United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,885,366

Kedar May 27, 1975 [5 SILO CONSTRUCTION 3,068,534 12/1962 Hu 52/237 x 3,257,154 61966 L 52 79 X [761 Mm'dechai B 5 Perm Hayuh 3,358,407 12/1967 52/79 Tel 18ml 3,523,619 8/1970 Jacobson 52/197 x [22] Filed: Nov. 9, 1973 I Primary E.rar1ziner-Pr1ce C. Faw, J r. H PP 414,452 Attorney. Agent, or Firm-Toren, McGeady and Stanger [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 16, 1972 Israel 40862 ABSTRACT A s1lo or like structure having a polygonal external [52] US. Cl. 52/194; 52/197; 52/237 Shape Comprises a Central Storage compartment and a [51 Int. Cl E04h 7/22 plurality of annular Storage Compartments Surrounding [58] Field f Search 52 9 7 97 194 237, the central storage compartment. The silo is made of a SZ/DIG 10 19 9 plurality of groups of separate structural units each of box-like configuration and having opposed open ends, 5 References Cited the units being joined together to form a plurality of UNITED STATES PATENTS annular arrays about the longitudinal axis of the silo with the open ends of each unit contiguous to the ad- 1,443,500 1/1923 Phillips 52/197 X jacent ones 2,228,609 1/1941 Ragni 52/197 X 1566,099 8/1951 Van Hulst 52/237 12 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures SILO CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to silos or like structures particularly to such structures having large storage compartments for storing material such as grain.

Silos commonly comprise a skeleton of columns. beams and girders, walls, floors and roofs of concrete which are cast in situ. Such process. however, is slow and expensive. Steel silos are also constructed but these too are quite expensive and furthermore such steel structure require much time of erection.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a silo or like structure of concrete or steel and which can be erected in a fraction of the time normally required for erecting conventional silos. While the invention is particularly useful for erecting concrete silos, it may also be used in erecting silos of other materials, for example steel.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, there is provided a silo or like structure having a polygonal external shape and comprising a central storage compartment and an annular storage compartment consisting preferably of a plurality of chambers, surrounding the central storage compartment. The silo is made up of a group of separate structural hollow units for each annular compartment, each unit having at least one first pair of opposed parallel sides, at least one second pair of opposed sides and open opposed ends. The units in each group are joined together to form an annular array about and spaced from the longitudinal axis of the silo to be erected with the open ends contiguous to each other. In this manner, the first and second pairs of sides of the units of each group define the walls of the respective annular storage compartment, and the space enclosed by the units of all the groups defines the central storage compartment.

In the embodiment which will be described, the silo is of octagonal external shape and there are eight of the mentioned structural units in each of the annularly arrayed groups. There may be any number of such units in each group and any number of such groups, depending upon the desired size and length of the silo.

The structural units from which the silo is constructed may be prefabricated and assembled at the site; thus this arrangement substantially shortens the time for erecting the silo. This arrangement also permits great flexibility in the sizes of the silos that can be constructed.

Any suitable conventional means may be used for joining the structural units together in assembling the annular arrays. For example, the units may merely be concreted at the joints to each other, the steel reinforcements of the unit ensuring continuity. Alternatively, the units may be assembled and held together by post tensioning with high tensile steel bars. Another possibility would be to embed steel plates in the edges of the concrete units, have the margin of these plate extend from the concrete and connect vicinal units by welding together of the steel plates.

The invention will now be described with reference to the annexed drawing, illustrating the invention by way of example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I is a perspective view illustrating one form of silo structure constructed in accordance with the invention'.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line IIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating one of the structural units used in constructing the silo of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fractional top plan view illustrating a part of the upper wall of the silo of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates a method which may be used for making the structural units of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view along lines VI--Vl of FIG.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The silo illustrated in the drawings is of octagonal shape and is made up of a plurality (three being shown in FIG. 1) of sections. In the construction illustrated, these sections define a central storage compartment 2 and a plurality of annular storage compartments 4 there being one of the latter for each section. The central compartment is subdivided by permanent or by removable vertical partitions.

The silo is made of a plurality of separate structural units generally designated 6, one of which is illustrated in FIG. 3. As shown unit 6 is of boxlike configuration including a first pair of opposed parallel sides 8, 10 a second pair of opposed parallel sides 12, 14 and open opposed ends 16, 18. Sides 8 and 10 are both of rectangular, shape, but of different dimensions, side 10 being shorter whereas sides 12 and 14 are of trapezoidal shape and are both of the same dimensions.

Eight of the units 6 are used to make each annular section of the silo. For this purpose, the eight units are joined together (along lines 20, FIG. 1) in the form of an annular array about and spaced from the longitudinal axis 2' (FIG. 2) of the silo with the open end 16 of one unit contiguous to the open end 18 of the next adjacent unit. When the eight units are so joined together an annular storage compartment 4 is thus formed by the four sides 8, 10, 12, 14 of the eight units. The central storage compartment is defined by the space enclosed by the units, particularly the shorter walls, 10 thereof.

After one annular section (tag. 51) is thus erected, another one (e.g. 52) may be similarly erected and joined to the first (along lines 22, FIG. 1) thus include any number of such annular sections in side-by-side relationship, each one providing a separate annular storage compartment 4 about the central storage compartment 2. While FIG. 1 illustrates a silo including three such sections (5153), it will be appreciated that any desired number may be provided and in fact the size flexibility permitted by this arrangement is one of the advantages of the present invention.

Any suitable means may be used forjoining the structural units together, both along lines 20 for producing one annular section, and along line 22 for producing a plurality of such sections. As one example, these units may merely be concreted together at the joints when erecting the silo. Other conventional means for joining concrete elements may also be used, for example welding steel plates or angles which had been embedded in the edges of the units. Another known suitable joining arrangement would be post tensioning by use of external high tensile bars which are fastened together and thus cause compressive stresses in units 6.

The erected silo is supported on a plurality of inverted U-shaped structural supports 30, there being one for each of the annular sections 51-53. Alternatively, units 30 can be erected in staggered relationship. In that case they will be slightly wider to support adjacent annular sections as well. These structural units are in turn supported on a foundation 32 below the ground 34. The supporting units 30 may also serve as loading docks for trucks 36 and the like. However, any other supporting structure may be used.

As is known with silos of this general construction, a conveyor generally designated 40 (FIG. 2) extends along the top wall of the silo for conveying material to be stored, such as grain. Conveyor 40, protected by a covering roof 42 conveys the material to a preselected section of the silo and the material is then directed to inlet conduits or chutes 44 or 46 for that section. Conduits 44 pass through inlet openings 44' in side 8 of the top unit 6 of the respective section whereby the material is fed into the annular storage compartment 4 of that section. Conduit 46 passes through another opening 46' in side 8 of the top unit of the section and through a similar opening in the opposed wall 10, this conduit leads into the central storage compartment 2 to permit the material to be fed into that compartment.

Any suitable means such as conveyor belts or chain conveyors many of which are known, may be used for conveying the material and for directing it to a selected annular storage compartment or to a selected point of the central storage compartment.

The bottom of the silo, namely the bottom unit 6 of each section includes corresponding outlet conduits or chutes 54 for discharging the stored material from a selected annular storage compartment 4 and similar outlet conduits or chutes 56 for discharging the storage material from the central storage compartment 2. The material is discharged e.g., into a truck 36 in the loading dock underlying the respective section of the silo.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate one technique that may be used for making the structural units 6. In this technique, a concrete casing bed is provided to cast the concrete in the form of a rectangular hollow section, as shown by 106. Partitions 108 are included in the casting bed to extend transversely of the rectangular hollow section to be cast which partitions divide the bed to produce a plurality of separate cast units. Partitions 108 are applied to the bed at angles to correspond to angle of the trapezoidal sides 12, 14 of the structural unit. This angle of course depends upon the number of sides in the polygon of the silo. In the octagonal form illustrated in the drawings, having 8 sides the angle would be 112 30.

In the preferred embodiment described above, the structural units 6 are preferably made of concrete but it will be appreciated that other material could be used, for exapmle, steel.

To allow complete emptying of the silo compartment, it is known practice to form internal slopes from concrete blinding leading towards the chutes and thus all the grain will slide towards the outlet and the respective compartment will be emptied. In order to cut down the amount of concrete blinding slopes, the units 6 may have more than four walls i.e. five or six, for instance in such case a kind of a valley is formed at the lowermost part of the compartment where the grain will flow towards the opening and the amount of concrete blinding will be much smaller.

If owing to available lifting means it would be required to have units of smaller weights, then, units 6 can be assembled of two or more parts and assembling these parts together to form a unit 6 described earlier. It is also possible to have the annular sections spaced from one another with intervals between them and these gaps will be closed by prefabricated concrete slabs spanning the distance between the annular sections. The vertical walls closing the central compartment 2 can be made of cast in situ concrete, or prefabricated concrete elements, steel plates etc.

What is claimed is:

1. A silo or like structure having a polygonal external shape comprising a central storage compartment and at least one annular compartment surrounding said central storage compartment and each said central storage compartment and annular compartment having a horizontal central axis; said silo being made up of at least one group of separate hollow structural units each having at least one first pair of opposed parallel sides, one second pair of opposed parallel sides and open opposed ends; said open ends extending in planes defining an angle therebetween, said units being joined together in the form of an annular array about and spaced from the central axis of the silo with said open ends of adjacent said units being contiguous to each other, whereby the first and second pairs of sides define the walls of said annular storage compartment and the space enclosed by the units of all said groups define said central storage compartment.

2. A silo or like structure having a polygonal external shape comprising a central storage compartment and at least one annular compartment; said silo being made of at least one group of separate hollow structural units each having at least one first pair of opposed parallel sides, a second pair of opposed parallel sides and open opposed ends, which open ends extend in planes defining an angle between them, said units being joined together in the form of an annular array about and spaced from longitudinal axis of the silo with said open ends contiguous to each other, a plurality of said groups of units joined together in a plurality of annular arrays in side-by-side relationship extending along said longitudinal axis of the silo, thereby defining a plurality of annular storage compartments surrounding and coaxial with the central storage compartment, and whereby the first and second pairs of sides define the walls of said annular storage compartments and the space enclosed by the units of all said groups defines the said central storage compartment.

3. A structure according to claim 2 wherein in each group of units said first pair of parallel sides are of rectangular shape but of different sizes and said second pair of parallel sides are of trapezoidal shape and of the same size.

4. A structure according to claim 2 wherein in each group of units the said first pair of parallel sides are of trapezoidal shape, a second pair of walls defining an angle extending between the longer sides of the trapezium as a third pair of sides also defining an angle between the shorter sides of the trapezium.

5. A structure according to claim 4 wherein said polygon is an octagon there being eight of said units in each group.

6. A structure according to claim 2 wherein each of said units in each group defines one side of said polygon.

7. A structure according to claim 6 wherein said polygon is an octagon there being eight of said units in each group.

8. A structure according to claim 2 wherein in each group of units, the upper wall of the top unit of the silo is formed with inlet openings leading to its respective annular compartment and the lower wall of the bottom unit of the silo is formed with outlet openings leading from its respective annular compartment.

9. A structure according to claim 8 wherein in each group of units an inlet conduit is provided passing through the top unit of the silo and leading into the central storage compartment and an outlet conduit is provided passing through the bottom unit of the silo and leading from the central storage compartment.

10. A structure according to claim 9 further including a conveyor extending along the top wall of the silo for conveying material to be stored to said inlet openings.

11. A structure according to claim 9 further including a loading dock for each group underlying the outlet openings of the silo for discharging the stored material therefrom into trucks at the loading dock.

12. A structure according to claim 11 wherein each of said loading docks comprises an inverted U-shaped structural element supporting said silo. 

1. A silo or like structure having a polygonal external shape comprising a central Storage compartment and at least one annular compartment surrounding said central storage compartment and each said central storage compartment and annular compartment having a horizontal central axis; said silo being made up of at least one group of separate hollow structural units each having at least one first pair of opposed parallel sides, one second pair of opposed parallel sides and open opposed ends; said open ends extending in planes defining an angle therebetween, said units being joined together in the form of an annular array about and spaced from the central axis of the silo with said open ends of adjacent said units being contiguous to each other, whereby the first and second pairs of sides define the walls of said annular storage compartment and the space enclosed by the units of all said groups define said central storage compartment.
 2. A silo or like structure having a polygonal external shape comprising a central storage compartment and at least one annular compartment; said silo being made of at least one group of separate hollow structural units each having at least one first pair of opposed parallel sides, a second pair of opposed parallel sides and open opposed ends, which open ends extend in planes defining an angle between them, said units being joined together in the form of an annular array about and spaced from longitudinal axis of the silo with said open ends contiguous to each other, a plurality of said groups of units joined together in a plurality of annular arrays in side-by-side relationship extending along said longitudinal axis of the silo, thereby defining a plurality of annular storage compartments surrounding and coaxial with the central storage compartment, and whereby the first and second pairs of sides define the walls of said annular storage compartments and the space enclosed by the units of all said groups defines the said central storage compartment.
 3. A structure according to claim 2 wherein in each group of units said first pair of parallel sides are of rectangular shape but of different sizes and said second pair of parallel sides are of trapezoidal shape and of the same size.
 4. A structure according to claim 2 wherein in each group of units the said first pair of parallel sides are of trapezoidal shape, a second pair of walls defining an angle extending between the longer sides of the trapezium as a third pair of sides also defining an angle between the shorter sides of the trapezium.
 5. A structure according to claim 4 wherein said polygon is an octagon there being eight of said units in each group.
 6. A structure according to claim 2 wherein each of said units in each group defines one side of said polygon.
 7. A structure according to claim 6 wherein said polygon is an octagon there being eight of said units in each group.
 8. A structure according to claim 2 wherein in each group of units, the upper wall of the top unit of the silo is formed with inlet openings leading to its respective annular compartment and the lower wall of the bottom unit of the silo is formed with outlet openings leading from its respective annular compartment.
 9. A structure according to claim 8 wherein in each group of units an inlet conduit is provided passing through the top unit of the silo and leading into the central storage compartment and an outlet conduit is provided passing through the bottom unit of the silo and leading from the central storage compartment.
 10. A structure according to claim 9 further including a conveyor extending along the top wall of the silo for conveying material to be stored to said inlet openings.
 11. A structure according to claim 9 further including a loading dock for each group underlying the outlet openings of the silo for discharging the stored material therefrom into trucks at the loading dock.
 12. A structure according to claim 11 wherein each of said loading docks comprises an inverted U-shaped structural element supporting said silo. 